Chapter 23 — Teaching Companion

What it asks It asks the student to stand in the snow with Jonas. He has just held Gabe to his bare chest and tied the blanket around them both. “Dimly, from a nearly forgotten perception,” he recalls what the whiteness is, and he whispers, “It's called snow, Gabe,” and tells him snowflakes are “very beautiful.” Gabe, “who had once been so curious and alert,” gives no response. His eyes are closed. Then a snowflake is caught “for a moment's sparkle” in his eyelashes. The student decides whom the words are for: the boy who cannot answer, or Jonas himself. It takes up one part of the last written question: Jonas goes on saying what he knows even when nothing answers him back. Do not say whether Gabe lives; the chapter never says.

One reading

For Gabe. Jonas has almost nothing left to give, but he can still give words. He talks to Gabe the way you talk to a little one who used to love asking about things.

• There was no response from the child who had once been so curious and alert.
• They fall down from the sky, and they're very beautiful.

Another reading

For himself. He has only just found the word again, from a memory almost gone. Saying it aloud keeps hold of it. And he still sees beauty: he watches a snowflake sparkle on Gabe's eyelashes.

• Dimly, from a nearly forgotten perception as blurred as the substance itself, Jonas recalled what the whiteness was.
• As Jonas watched, a snowflake drifted down and was caught briefly for a moment's sparkle in the tiny fluttering eyelashes.

Listen for

• Notices that Gabe does not answer.
• Notices that Jonas has only just remembered what snow is.
• Uses the snowflake in Gabe's eyelashes.
• Does not say whether Gabe lives or dies.

If stuck

• What does Jonas do to keep Gabe warm in the snow?
• What does Gabe say back?
• Do people ever say things aloud that they need to hear themselves?

A strong answer A strong response might say the words are for Gabe: with the warmth almost gone, words are something Jonas can still give a boy “who had once been so curious and alert.” Another might say they are for Jonas: he has only just pulled the word up from “a nearly forgotten perception,” and saying it keeps it. A careful answer may notice that the writer then shows the snow being beautiful, a snowflake's “sparkle” in Gabe's “fluttering” eyelashes, so the reader sees what Jonas sees even though Gabe cannot.

What it asks It asks the student to look hard at one sentence. The bike will not move. Jonas lets it drop and thinks “how easy it would be” to drop beside it, “to let himself and Gabriel slide into the softness of snow, the darkness of night, the warm comfort of sleep.” Then: “But he had come this far. He must try to go on.” A little later the chapter names that pull: “lethargy and resignation.” The student decides why the writer makes the pull to stop sound soft and warm. It takes up one part of the last written question: in this cold, a feeling can tell Jonas something his body cannot confirm. Do not read the ending as sleep or as death; the book never says what happens to Jonas.

One reading

To show how strong the pull is. If stopping sounded hard, going on would be easy. Because it sounds so gentle, his choice to get up counts for more.

• For a moment he thought how easy it would be to drop beside it himself
• But he had come this far. He must try to go on.

Another reading

To show the cold playing tricks. Snow is not warm. The comfort is the danger, and the chapter later calls that feeling by its real name.

• to let himself and Gabriel slide into the softness of snow, the darkness of night, the warm comfort of sleep.
• Warming himself ever so briefly had shaken away the lethargy and resignation and restored his will to survive.

Listen for

• Uses one of the three soft things in the sentence: snow, night, sleep.
• Notices that snow is not really warm.
• Uses the short answer that follows: “But he had come this far.”
• Does not say the ending is sleep or death.

If stuck

• What happens to the bike on the hill?
• What does Jonas think about doing next?
• Can something feel good and still be dangerous?

A strong answer A strong response might say the writer makes stopping sound lovely so we feel how hard it is to refuse: it would be “easy,” and still he decides, “He must try to go on.” Another might say the lovely words show the cold lying to him, since snow is not warm and the chapter soon calls the feeling “lethargy and resignation.” A careful answer may notice that soft snow comes back at the end, at the sled, where “the snow was powdery and soft,” and may ask whether it feels the same there.

What it asks It asks the student to judge the moment the chapter slows down for. Jonas wonders, “Did he still have the strength to Give? Could Gabriel still Receive?” He tries to remember sunshine, and the warmth comes into his own feet, face and hands. “For a fleeting second he felt that he wanted to keep it for himself, to let himself bathe in sunlight, unburdened by anything or anyone else.” Then the moment passes, and “Aching from the effort,” he forces the warmth into Gabe. The student weighs what that second says about Jonas. It takes up one part of the last written question: the chapter shows us everything Jonas feels, even what does not flatter him. Do not skip the wish; the chapter gives it a whole sentence.

One reading

Less. Gabe is freezing in his arms, and for a moment Jonas thinks only of himself. A hero would not want to keep what a freezing baby needs.

• For a fleeting second he felt that he wanted to keep it for himself, to let himself bathe in sunlight, unburdened by anything or anyone else.
• Gabriel, wrapped in his inadequate blanket, was hunched, shivering, and silent in his little seat.

Another reading

More. Giving away something you do not want is easy. He wants the warmth badly, and he gives it anyway, even though it hurts.

• But the moment passed and was followed by an urge, a need, a passionate yearning to share the warmth with the one person left for him to love.
• Aching from the effort, he forced the memory of warmth into the thin, shivering body in his arms.

Listen for

• Uses the words “fleeting second.”
• Names what Jonas would have had: sunlight, with no one else to carry.
• Notices that the giving hurts him: “Aching from the effort.”
• Notices that both of them end up warm for a moment.

If stuck

• What memory does Jonas use to warm Gabe?
• What does he want, just for a second?
• Is it harder to give away something you want, or something you don't?

A strong answer A strong response might say the second makes him less of a hero: Gabe is “hunched, shivering, and silent,” and Jonas wants to bathe in sunlight, “unburdened by anything or anyone else.” Another might say it makes him more of one: he gives what he wants, “Aching from the effort.” A careful answer may notice what comes after: “For a moment they both were bathed in warmth,” and “Warming himself ever so briefly” is what brings back his will to survive, so the warmth he nearly kept may be part of what saves them both.

What it asks It asks the student to puzzle over a line the writer stands behind. Near the summit Jonas is colder and more numb than ever, yet he begins to feel happy. He remembers his mother and father, his sister, Asher, Fiona and The Giver. At the crest he tells Gabe, “We're almost there,” and “I remember this place, Gabe.” The writer adds, “And it was true.” This is not “a thin and burdensome recollection”; “It was a memory of his own.” On the climb, “he did not know what lay beyond” the top of the hill. The student works out what kind of remembering this could be. It takes up one part of the last written question: here the writer, not only Jonas, says what he feels is true. A student who recalls an earlier sled ride in the book may bring it in, but the chapter alone must be enough. Do not say how the sled got there or who left it.

One reading

A memory someone gave him has become his own. He knows that “this time” there will be no fall, so there was another time. He recognizes the lights. He has been here in a memory.

• and he knew that this time there would be no ice, no fall, no pain.
• all at once he could see lights, and he recognized them now.

Another reading

What he remembers is not the place at all. Just before, he remembers the people he loves. The place feels like them, and that feeling is his own.

• He remembered his parents and his sister.
• This was something that he could keep. It was a memory of his own.

Listen for

• Uses the writer's words “And it was true.”
• Notices the difference between a “thin and burdensome recollection” and “a memory of his own.”
• Uses “this time” or the lights he recognizes.
• Does not say how the sled got there or who is waiting.

If stuck

• Whom does Jonas remember as he nears the top?
• Before he reaches the top, does Jonas know what lies beyond it?
• Can you remember a place you have only heard about, or only felt?

A strong answer A strong response might say a given memory has become his: he knows “this time” there will be no fall, and when the lights appear, “he recognized them now.” Another might say what he remembers is the people he loves, whom he has just recalled, so the place feels like home without his having stood there. A careful answer may notice that the writer adds “And it was true,” and that this happens when he is colder than ever, not warmer, so the memory comes from somewhere other than the body.

What it asks It asks the student to listen to the book's last two sentences. Ahead, “For the first time,” Jonas hears music: “He heard people singing.” Then: “Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.” Earlier the chapter says the memories have fallen behind him “to return to the people of his community.” The student decides what that music behind him might be. It takes up one part of the last written question: the book ends on a “perhaps,” after all of Jonas's certainty. Do not say what has happened to the community or to The Giver; the chapter does not say.

One reading

An echo of the singing ahead. Sound bounces back. The music comes from ahead, where the lights are. Jonas only thinks he hears it behind him.

• He heard people singing.
• But perhaps it was only an echo.

Another reading

An echo of the past. The writer says the music comes “across vast distances of space and time.” A sound can bounce across space, but not across time. It may be an echo of the life and the people he left, the ones he has just remembered.

• Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too.
• He remembered his parents and his sister.

Listen for

• Uses “perhaps” and notices it is the book's last line.
• Connects the music behind to the singing ahead.
• Notices the words “space and time,” or the people Jonas has just remembered.
• Does not say what has happened to the community or to The Giver.

If stuck

• What does Jonas hear ahead of him?
• What does he think he hears behind him?
• What is an echo? Where does the sound of an echo really come from?

A strong answer A strong response might say it is an echo of the singing ahead, sound thrown back across the snow, so all the music Jonas hears comes from where he is going. Another might say it is an echo of the past: the music comes “across vast distances of space and time,” and time is not something sound bounces across, so it may be the life and the people he left, whom he has just remembered with joy. A careful answer may notice a third echo: Jonas's own hope, sounding back to him. It may also notice that the last word on the music is the narrator's “perhaps,” not Jonas's certainty.

What it asks It asks the student to write about the whole climb. The bike stops, and Jonas nearly lies down. He warms Gabe with sunshine, and both are warm “For a moment.” The warmth fades within “a few yards.” He falls, gives Gabe “a wisp of another warm memory,” and stands. He warms them again with “a tiny scrap of memory that seemed certainly to be all he had left.” Near the summit he is “more numb and more cold,” yet he begins to feel happy as memories of joy flood through him. The student decides what gets him up when his body cannot. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Jonas has to go on, once his senses and his strength give out. Do not say whether Jonas and Gabe live; the chapter never says.

One reading

Gabe does. Each time Jonas falls, he gets up to warm Gabe. Wanting to share the warmth with “the one person left for him to love” keeps him moving.

• His spirits and strength lifted with the momentary warmth and he stood.
• His entire concentration now had to be on moving his feet, warming Gabriel and himself, and going forward.

Another reading

His own memories do. The given memories run out on the way up. At the very top, when he is coldest, happy memories of his own life flood in, and those take him over the crest.

• But he began, suddenly, to feel happy.
• Memories of joy flooded through him suddenly.

Listen for

• Takes a position and gives a reason from the chapter.
• Uses at least two moments from different parts of the climb.
• Notices that near the top he is not warmer and not less tired.
• Writes in complete sentences.

If stuck

• How many times does Jonas warm Gabe on the hill?
• How does Jonas feel near the summit, in his body and in his mind?
• When your body is tired out, what can still keep you going?

A strong answer A strong response takes a position and backs it with the page. A student might argue that Gabe gets him there: each warm memory he passes to Gabe lifts his own “spirits and strength,” and his whole mind is on “warming Gabriel and himself, and going forward.” Another might argue that his own memories do: the given ones shrink to “a tiny scrap,” and only near the summit, when he is coldest, does he “suddenly” feel happy. A careful answer may notice his plain will too, “But he had come this far,” and may weigh which of these could have worked alone.

What it asks This is the last question the student meets, and it gathers the earlier ones: who Jonas is talking to when he tells a silent Gabe that snow is “very beautiful,” why the writer makes giving up sound like “the warm comfort of sleep,” whether the second he wants to keep the sunshine makes him less of a hero or more, how he can remember a place he has never been, what the music behind him might be an echo of, and what gets him the rest of the way up the hill. Now the student judges the ending. In the first lines, “None of his senses confirmed it,” “Yet he felt it.” At the end, sliding downward and fighting to stay conscious, he is “aware with certainty and joy” that people below are waiting for him and for the baby. He hears singing. Then: “But perhaps it was only an echo.” The student decides how far a reader should go with Jonas. Do not say whether Jonas and Gabe live or die, whether the lights and singing are real, or who is waiting below; the book never says.

One reading

Trust it. All chapter long his feeling has led him right. It brought him to a sled “waiting for them,” and when he said he remembered this place, the writer said, “And it was true.”

• And it was true.
• Jonas found the sled that was waiting for them at the top of the hill.

Another reading

Be careful. His feeling has never had proof. He is freezing, losing consciousness, and sure “without knowing why.” The book's very last line leaves a doubt.

• None of his senses confirmed it.
• Jonas felt himself losing consciousness

Listen for

• Takes a side and gives at least two reasons from the chapter.
• Uses the first lines (“None of his senses confirmed it”) and the last line (“perhaps”).
• Weighs what Jonas sees and hears against what he only feels.
• Answers the other side fairly, in complete sentences, and does not say whether they live or die.

If stuck

• What does Jonas see and hear at the start of the chapter? What does he feel?
• What does he see and hear at the end?
• Can a feeling be true even if nothing proves it yet?

A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue the reader should trust him: his feeling led him to a sled “waiting for them,” and when he says he remembers the place, the writer adds, “And it was true.” Another might argue for care: at the start “None of his senses confirmed it,” at the end he is “losing consciousness,” and the book closes on “perhaps.” A careful answer may notice that the “perhaps” falls on the music behind him, not on the singing ahead, and may ask whether that doubt spreads to everything or stays where the writer put it.